Exercise Treatments for PD Symptoms

Exercise Treatments for PD Symptoms The Exercise Rx Besides drugs and surgery, researchers are looking into using exercise as an intervention therapy to tame the symptoms of PD. In 2003, Dr. Jay L. Alberts, a PD researcher and accomplished cyclist, entered the seven-day RAGBRAI bicycle ride across Iowa. He rode on a tandem bike for two days with Cathy Frazier, a 40-year-old woman with PD. He discovered that Cathys handwriting was beautiful. Prior to the ride, her handwriting displayed classical micrographia, a cardinal sign of PD. Each year for the next four years, when he did the RAGBRAI tandem bike ride with parkinsonian stokers, he noticed similar phenomena. His stokers parkinsonian symptoms disappeared. As he went through scientific literatures, Alberts discovered that there was a lot of research on animals that reported similar results. Typically, in these studies, one group of animals is put on a motorized treadmill that forces the creature to run faster than it wants. A sedentary group serves as a control. Then, after a few weeks, both groups are given a neurotoxin such asÂÂ   MPTP. The sedentary group suffers immediate damage to the substantia nigra and develops parkinsonism; the exercise group partially resists the toxin. But research on humans had not found comparable benefits. Alberts thought it was because the human experiments test voluntary exercise while the rates are doing forced exercise. The rats are forced to run at a faster rate. The same thing is going on with the tandem bikes where the stokers are pedaling faster than they were pedaling on their own. To test the theory, Alberts carried out a pilot trial that took ten PD patients and randomly assigned them to one of two groups: a treatment group receiving forced exercise and a control group voluntarily exercising. The forced-exercise group was given three 60-minute workouts for eight weeks in which a trainer pedaled at 80 to 90 revolutions per minute. The control group did three 60-minute session each week on a bike by themselves. Each group was evaluated before and after the experiment using the Unified Parkinsons Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). After eight weeks, the forced-exercise groups symptoms had improved reducing their average UPDRS part 3 score by about one-third. Thats almost as large an effect as the one brought about by levodopa. The control group saw no benefit. Two weeks later, these gains were still there in the tandem group. But four weeks after treatment, the forced-exercise group was back where theyd started. So force-exercise is like levodopa, the benefit will stop if you stop taking it. Albertss concept of forced exercise is just one of many options out there. Other options such as tai chi, kickboxing, and progressive strength training exercise is as effective. It is more important to select an activity that will address your specific needs and be sustainable. *** But most neurologists are still skeptical about physical therapies. The one exception is the Dutch neurologist Bastiaan Bloem. Bloem believed physical therapy would be a better treatment of gait and balance than just the levodopa therapy. In 2004, Bloem and Marten Munneke, a physical therapist, started the ParkinsonNet in the Netherlands. Today, the program has 66 regional networks, 2,970 trained professionals and over fifty thousand patients. *** Over the past decade, several companies have been developing technology capable of tracking the PD symptoms outside the clinic. These companies are working on various combinations of advanced wearable sensors to track multiple domains round the clock tremor, bradykinesia, gait, balance, walking, cognition, and more. One technology, Kinesia HomeView, designed by Great Lakes Neuroechnologies, comprises a small computer and a finger sensor. Sitting in front of a screen, you perform a set of exercises, that takes about five minutes. Then you will get a report of thirteen metrics, listing the severity of three forms of tremor, dyskinesia, the speed, amplitude, and rhythm displayed during the finger-tapping, hand-movement, and hand-flipping exercises. The main advantage is that you can use it 24/7. It can reveal any changes in motor performance over time, providing a much more detailed picture of your disease than that obtained in an evaluation every six months. The other system is a set of sensors developed by Portland-based APDM. You wear three small devices, one on your wrist and one on each of your ankles. The wrist sensor detects tremor and dyskinesia. The ankle sensors measure multiple aspects of walking. Your daily activities generate masses of data. When the data are averaged over time, they reveal emerging asymmetries in your gait. Key Takeaways Dr. Jay Alberts discovered force-exercise can relieve PD symptoms. Force-exercise is like levodopa, the benefit will stop if you stop taking it. Bastiaan Bloem believed physical therapy would be a better treatment of gait and balance than just the levodopa therapy. Several companies have been developing technology capable of tracking the PD symptoms outside the clinic.

Analysis of Down the River by Edward Abbey Essay

In this colorful and passionate essay, â€Å"Down the River†, Edward Abbey depicts nature as a mysterious and majestic place in order to encourage his open-minded readers to embrace all that it has to offer. He also expresses how both nature and our everyday lives are very similar in that they are mysterious and only understandable in small fractions. His tone of admiration leads the reader to recognize that we as humans tend to not see the reflection of mankind in nature; therefore we stunt our ability to fully appreciate and experience its mystery and beauty. His use of parallel structure and imagery provide the reader with a multitude of reasons to appreciate and adore nature. Abbey uses romanticism to show how very important all the little aspects of nature are. He notices small details that ordinary people wouldn’t recognize or appreciate, such as â€Å"the little heart-shaped tracks of the former apparent in the sand†. This suggests that he has a close and intimate connection with nature. For example, when he has his first encounter with a mountain lion, he describes it as a â€Å"mutual curiosity†, that they felt more wonder than fear and in that moment he shares a bond with nature and shows us that we as humans can relate to nature in more than one way. He then rejects the quote by Fuller by saying that the world is â€Å"comprehensible only in part†, as he is observing only Aravaipa Canyon, and it is â€Å"infinitely rich in detail.† The beauty and mystery of nature and of life is what makes it interesting and since they are both so intact with each other, it makes it easier to become connected to nature and be feel the romanticism that he described in the beginning of the essay. In his essay, he shows the reflections of mankind in nature and praises the beauties and wonders of nature and expresses that our world is too magnificent to comprehend. He is mesmerized by all of nature’s unknowns and how we can be so closely related to something and at the same time not understand anything about it.

Indian girl Essay

He was a good husband. No one could deny it. He let her have her own way, indulged her, even. When the kitchen was remodelled, for example, and she wanted pink and grey tiles even though he preferred white. White. A clean colour. A colour he believed to be innocent, just like his wife.  He was traditional as an Indian man could get. He had expectations from his wife. Demands that had to be fulfilled.  She would dress as he would tell her too, sleep with him when he wanted her to.  Not only that, she would provide him with a son and a daughter. The duty of every Indian wife was to give their husband a child, regardless of whether they wanted to or not. He would be the provider in this relationship. She would cook and clean at home while he worked.  It was tradition after all and he was very traditional.  However, when he did put his foot down he would often soften his no’s with kind remarks. There had been two occasions that he strongly remembered in which he had to be firm. Like when she wanted to get a job and go back to school or buy English clothes.  Nobody in his family had ever worn English clothes, except for the men that is.  His mother, his mother’s mother and sisters had always dressed in Indian clothes†¦no matter what the occasion. He preferred Indian clothes on his wife too. After all they hid her body. The loose blouses didn’t reveal her breasts like some English tops or show an unnecessary amount of cleavage. The endless mounds of fabric concealed his wife’s legs and waistline.  He believed his wife’s body was just for him to look at. Why tempt other men to look at his wife’s curvaceous hips or low cut neckline?  The soft remarks that often accommodated his no’s were mostly, â€Å"What for? I’m here to take care of you† or â€Å"You look so much prettier in your Indian clothes, so much more feminine.† He would pull her to his lap and give her a kiss and cuddle, which usually ended with him taking her to the bedroom. That was another area where he had to be firm. Sex. His wife was constantly pleading with him, â€Å"Please, not tonight.† He didn’t mind that. She was, after all, a well-bred Indian girl.  She had good Indian values that he felt all Indian women should have. Her dreams in life were those of his mother’s. She wanted to marry, have children and live a contented life in a glorious home. She was conservative and an introvert. Not a woman who would cause him embarrassment in front of friends and family. Timid†¦someone who needed support and he believed that he was indeed the support she needed. But her reluctance went beyond womanly modesty.  After dinner for instance, she would start on the most convoluted household projects, soaping down the floors, changing the liners in the cabinets. The night before she had disappeared she’d started cleaning the windows, taking out the Window cleaner and rags as soon as she’d put the boy to bed, even though he had mumbled, â€Å"Let’s go.†Ã‚  Surely he couldn’t be blamed for raising his voice at those times (though never so much to wake his son) or for grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her to the bed, like he did the night before she disappeared. He was always careful not to hurt her, he prided himself on that. Not even a little slap. And he always told himself he’d stop if she really begged him, if she cried, After some time, though, she would quit struggling and let him do what he wanted. But that was nothing new. That could have nothing to do with the disappearance†¦after all that was his right.  His grandfather had done the same with his wife, his father had treated his mother the same way too and she had turned out fine hadn’t she?  So, why should he have treated his wife differently? She too was an Indian woman and for generations Indian women had been afflicted upon. So what made her so special? Why couldn’t he behave the same way with his wife as his male ancestors had with theirs? Two weeks passed and there was no news of Zeneve, even though the husband had put a notice in the local newspaper as well as a half-page ad in India West, which he’d photocopied and taped to all the neighbourhood lampposts. The ad had a photo of her, a close up taken in too bright sunlight where she gazed gravely at something beyond the camera.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"How on earth will you come up with that kind of money?† asked his friend’s. The husband confessed it would be difficult, but he’d manage somehow. His wife was more important to him, after all, than all the money in the world. And to prove it he went to the bank the very same day and brought home a sheaf of forms to fill in so that he could take out a second mortgage on the house. He kept calling the police station, too, but the police weren’t much help. (They were working on it apparently.) They’d checked the local hospitals and morgues, the shelters†¦but there were no leads. It didn’t look very hopeful.  So finally he called India over a faulty long-distance connection that made his voice echo eerily in his ear. He told his mother what had happened.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"My poor boy!† she wailed. â€Å"Left all alone† (the word flickered unpleasantly across his brain, left, left.)  Ã¢â‚¬Å"How can you possibly cope with the household and a child as well?† she added. And when he admitted that yes, it was very difficult, could she perhaps come and help out for a while if wasn’t too much trouble, she replied â€Å"Of course! I’ll come right away and stay as long as you need me too and what was all this English nonsense about too much trouble? You’re my only son aren’t you?† She even said tha t she would contact the wife’s family too so he wouldn’t have to deal with that awkwardness. He was relieved at his mother’s kind gesture. How could he possibly face his in-laws at a time like this? How would he tell them that there one and only daughter may never come back?  Within a week his mother had closed up the little flat she had lived in since her husband’s death, got hold of a special family emergency visa and was on her way. Almost as though she’d been waiting for something like this to happen, said some of the women spitefully. These were his wife’s friends, though in his opinion, acquitances would be a more accurate word. His wife had liked to keep to herself, which had been just fine with him. He was glad, he’d told her several times, that she didn’t spend hours chattering on the phone like the other Indian wives.  He was livid when this gossip reached him (perhaps because he had the same insidious thought for a moment, when at the airport, he noticed just how happy his mother looked.) â€Å"Really† he asserted to his friends, â€Å"some people see only what they want to see. Don’t you think it is a good thing she has come over?†

What Happens If You Inhale Helium

Helium is a light, inert gas used for MRI machines, cryogenic research, heliox, and helium balloons. You may have heard inhaling helium can be dangerous, sometimes even fatal, but have you ever wondered just how likely you are to harm your health breathing helium? Heres what you need to know. Inhaling Helium from Balloons If you inhale helium from a balloon, you get a squeaky voice. You may also get light-headed because youre breathing in pure helium gas rather than oxygen-containing air. This can lead to hypoxia or low oxygen. If you take more than a couple of breaths of helium gas, you could pass out. Unless you hit your head when you fall, youre unlikely to suffer any lasting harm from the episode. You may get a headache and a dry nasal passage. Helium is non-toxic and youll start breathing normal air as soon as you move away from the balloon. Breathing Helium From a Pressurized Tank Inhaling helium from a pressurized gas tank, on the other hand, is extremely dangerous. Because the pressure of the gas is much greater than that of air, the helium could rush into your lungs, causing them to hemorrhage or burst. Youll wind up in the hospital or possibly the morgue. This phenomenon isnt exclusive to helium. Inhaling any pressurized gas can and probably will harm you. Do not attempt to breathe gas from a tank. Other Ways of Inhaling Helium Its dangerous to put yourself into a giant helium balloon because youll deprive yourself of oxygen and wont automatically start breathing normal air after you start suffering the effects of hypoxia. If you see a giant balloon, resist any urge to try to get inside it. Heliox is a mixture of helium and oxygen. It is used for scuba diving and also for medicine, because its easier for the lighter gas to pass through obstructed airways. Because heliox contains oxygen in addition to helium, this mixture does not cause oxygen starvation. Test your knowledge of helium with a quick helium facts quiz.